Tokens are substitutes for real credentials such as payment credentials. Tokens can be used instead of real credentials to conduct transactions such as payment transactions. Tokens provide greater data security relative to real credentials, because if token are stolen by unauthorized persons, the real credentials are not exposed. The token can be deactivated without compromising the real credential associated with the token.
The process of token issuance typically involves a token requestor requesting a token. A token service can evaluate the token request, and can issue a token to the token requestor if it is valid.
If a token is used in a transaction such as a payment transaction, the user of the token may be required to perform an authentication process before the transaction can proceed. This can involve a computer requesting a secret from the user.
It is apparent that when conducting a transaction using a token, a number of steps are required. While the number of steps required to complete a single transaction may not appear at first glance to be problematic, when millions of transactions are taking place, the burden to computing resources in a computer network can be significant.
Embodiments of the invention address these and other problems, individually and collectively.